iThemba Pharmaceuticals and Pyxis Discovery sign a collaborative agreement

iThemba Pharmaceuticals' service division and Pyxis Discovery announced today that they have signed a collaborative agreement to jointly market both companies' services.

Pyxis's world class computational chemistry and lead discovery expertise will be coupled with iThemba's service division to provide medicinal and synthetic chemistry support to projects identified through Pyxis' international client network. iThemba Pharmaceuticals and Pyxis Discovery also announced today that they are entering into a co-marketing agreement to offer virtual libraries which will be exclusively synthesized for clients. Pyxis's smart approach of designing and selecting compounds facilitates a rapid and efficient lead discovery and library design process and this coupled to iThemba's expertise in synthetic and medicinal chemistry will provide our customers with a unique service offering opportunity.

"The intellectual and technological support from Pyxis will enhance both of our service offerings," said Chris Edlin, CSO of iThemba. "Our customers will gain the advantage of our coupled expertise in design, synthesis and medicinal chemistry prowess."

"Combining the outstanding medicinal chemistry expertise of iThemba with our design approach helps us to provide our clients with a more complete set of services, resulting in swiftly progressing lead discovery and optimization projects." said Ron van der Valk, Managing Director of Pyxis Discovery. "In addition to this, we hope that our collaboration with iThemba will support their ambition to bring affordable medicines to the less fortunate people in this world."